Category: Dealing with creditors

My hubby has been calling to get our high interest rate cards reduced.

HSBC was generous in their reduction, but Merrick won’t play. Their response was “Merrick Bank doesn’t lower interest rates.”

What a crappy attitude, don’t you think? We’ll probably have to open another card and try to transfer the account if possible.

Hubby refuses to call them again.

Has anyone else found a way to get Merrick to lower the interest rate?

What about Chase (used to be Providian)?

Huh… Sounds like Barclaycard. They don’t play either. In fact, they will raise it even more.

Chase was the first to use a dirty policy called universal default. They have their greedy hands all over the place in predatory lending, especially to those who can least afford it. Ever hear of loan to own?

I recenly saw on a morning show how the economy in Russia is improving and guess who is setting up credit card operations there ? Chase!

They showed one Russian couple saying how they wanted to get credit cards and redo their kitchen. Oh, I hope they know what they are getting into buying on credit. Not everyone who uses CC’s is going to get into trouble, but it’s not hard to fall in the trap and find oneself in a spiral of debt. Chase is just Citi with another name. Same old predator!

Wow, Chase! To me, they are the Freddie Kruger of financial institutions. We had a 2nd mortgage at one time with them, and they were really trying to screw us. They kept adding all these strange charges even though we paid ahead of the due date each month and they had some really bizarre explanations for what they were doing.

The balance never went down in almost 3 years. We also learned it was a balloon payment loan, which they never told us until after we had signed. There are lots of Citibank foreclosures in our area, so you know they are practicing predatory lending in many cases.

We finally refinanced the 2nd mortgage with a close friend, and we’re paying 7% interest for 15 years (are in 3rd year now) compared to 12% on the 2nd with Chase, which was originally with First Union Bank….I guess the larger banks just swallow up the smaller ones in order to increase their profits.

My husband is in the process of a balance transfer of the Merrick Card and the Chase (who bought Providian, who was the original cardprovider). At that point, we’ll cut up the cards but keep the accounts open to improve our ratio….with a plan to eventually close them.

I just called up to verify my interest rate. I told them that I thought it was 25% but it seemed awfully high. They said it was based on the prime rate and she checked and it was 23.99. I asked what i could do to lower it, I told her i pay alot a month (like last month i paid $400), and they raised my limit (i didn’t use the limit ) but it just seemed high. I told her none of my other cards are or ever been that high and just wondering what else i can do to help lower it in the future? She then asked what my rates were on my other cards and i told her 0, 6 and 11 i believe. I told her my Home depot was at 19 she asked if i could hold for 2 minutes max and came back and appoligized for my wait (was under 2 min) and said she talked to her supervisor and was told based on the prime rate (funny how my rate was based on the prime rate to start with ha ha) she could lower it to 14.99. My cash advance will still be 23.99. She asked if that was okay and i gave permission to change it.

I called to see if they’d lower it but made it sound like i was concerned about my rate and what else i could do to perhaps get it lowered in the future. I didn’t threaten to close it or anything and the lady i talked to was super nice.

Here in Canada, there are some dept stores that charge 29% and they don’t call it interest, they call it service and administrative charges. There are loan companies that can charge up to 40%!! Citibank is one of them. Very scary…….

I called one of my cards that had an outrageous interest rate (23.99) and i called and got it down to 14.99! i’m not putting anything on the card of course but it helps with the monthly interest rate. I should have this card paid off in 2-3 months.

My working has helped get our balances down a lot. past month i’ve had a lot of vet bills and my paycheck paid those which otherwise i would have had to put on a card until my dh’s next paycheck so i’m very happy with that.

Just wanted to share my good news:) I never did that before!

Applause Applause!!!!!! My card I am fighting with is (Barclaycard) not working with me at all. It is their rigid attitude and no communication that has angered me no end. I an simply socking them down. I’m planning to pay about $120 every payday, that will rid me of them in about 6 months.

I want to just scream at their total disregard for this, and they just don’t care.

Maybe they take lessons from Citi?

Keep that up and you might be able to call these card companies on behalf of others and start a debt service.

thank you! I was actually surprised they didi t so easily ya know! I never did that before but figured the worst they could say is sorry can’t do it, ya know??

Good luck with getting yours piad down. I wish i knew when i turned 18 how evil CCs were. My parents taught me to save and how to balance my checkbook and i started working hwen i was 16, i helped my parents by paying for part of my school clothes/ supplies, paid for my phone and any other extra stuff i had at home (internet if i did), etc. WHen i was 18 i paid my mom rent (not alot but to help out ya know)… but i never really was told. hey be careful… yu can dig a deep hole.

But now i know and i am working on getting out. It’s bbeen a long journey but I see a vague light lolol

I have a good friend that lost his job 5 months ago. He is still unemployed and having a hard time finding work. He has gone on several interviews so at least he is trying. The problem is he has several bills that cannot be paid due to his unemployment. What can he tell these creditors so that they will stop calling? Should he write a certified letter explaining his situation? Please give some advice because I want to help out as much as I can. I am paying some of his small bills, but the larger ones I cannot pay.

They can call all they want, but calling still won’t get the bills paid. So in essence they are wasting their time calling. I am sure there is something he can do. No one should be harassed by the phone constantly even if they are behind on bills. Alot of these creditors think that consumers don’t know laws, but lots of us do. Alot of these creditors do illegal things to collect that are downright rude. I am telling him to document every call and who he spoke with and also tell them that he is taping the conversations. I am going to tell him to take everyone’s advice here and send a certified letter to them. All of us will hit hard times at some point, even the rude creditors that call. No one’s job is guaranteed………

I am glad that you got your CC company to work with you. That’s the way things should be handled. But when you have already tried that and they still keep calling, thats when you have to take matters a little further. I will help my friend all I can and it pains me to see him going through this. That’s why I am on this group to find out what I can do and I have seen lots of great advice. I have seen several people on this forum that got the creditors to stop calling, so it is possible……..

I’m so sorry about your friends situation. We have been in the same situation for a year now. We only pay the necessities (home, utilities, food,basic phone line and transportation) until we can do more. It’s awfully hard to pay for something when you have no job. Is he trying for any state assistance for food or anything? We hated to do that but we can now eat and not worry about that expense until mt first paycheck.

As far as the phone calls, I’m looking for the same information. We ended up turning the phone off and reconnecting with a new one.

Drastic…isn’t it? But we were getting no help from the creditors. No matter what we told them, they just kept harrassing us. I’m not telling you to do that, we felt like that was our only option.

There’s nothing worse than getting 40 phone calls in a day and not one of them being a potential employer, but bill collectors. I know he’s frustrated but it will get better.